


Two Voice Experiment

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Number The Stars [13]
Category: Numb3rs, Stargate SG-1, Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 13:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6377275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: Thoughtcrimes/Stargate SG-1(/any), Freya McAllister + any Tok'ra, it was an experiment.</p><p>Freya meets a Tok'ra for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Voice Experiment

Freya meandered back to the math lab from the mess hall. She had coffee in hand and a bright new pack of multicolored whiteboard markers to work with. Charlie had always preferred to work in chalk, and sometimes Freya missed the scent of chalk in the air, but she certainly didn’t miss getting chalk on her clothes. She liked the new glass boards the scientists had had installed in the lab, and sometimes it felt like she was a bad little kid writing all over the walls, which was strangely freeing. New markers - these ones multicolored, some metallic, some pastel, some bright - would give her math a new pop. Make things more interesting. Not that she ever found math boring. But sometimes being able to isolate sections in different colors gave her a way to look at things in a new way, and she was stuck on the current problem.

She came around the corner, juggling her markers and her mug of coffee, and nearly collided with an older man she’d never met before.

“I’m so sorry!” she cried, recoiling, and almost toppled over backward without her hands to steady her.

He caught her by the shoulders and steadied her gently. “No problem.”

She met his gaze for a moment, caught a glimpse of his thoughts without meaning to.

_\- Younger and younger these days._

Freya smiled at him and stepped back. “Thanks. I’m Amita,” she said. “Amita Ramanujan.”

“I’ve heard of you. My daughter has great things to say about you,” the man said.

Freya blinked, because she wasn’t aware that the SGC was at all a family business. “Oh. I - thank her for me?”

The man laughed. “Of course. She probably didn’t mention it. General Jacob Carter, retired.”

Sam’s dad? Freya had heard he was a general. She shuffled her coffee into the same hand as the pens and offered her free hand. “Oh! It’s wonderful to meet you. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work with Major Carter. She’s brilliant. You must be so proud of her.”

General Carter’s handshake was firm and warm. “Sam always wanted to be an astronaut, so I thought she was selling herself short with deep space telemetry, but then I found out what really goes on under here, and I couldn’t be more proud of the woman she’s become.”

Freya wondered what he’d done, to merit being read into the SGC, and she caught another flicker of thought from him.

Only it was from a different voice.

_Good thing you learned about the SGC._ The voice sounded like it belonged to an older woman, but it was definitely coming from General Carter. _Otherwise I’d have died without a new host._

Freya’s throat closed. Host. The man was a Goa’uld. When had he been taken? Did anyone know? Chances were no one suspected because he was Sam’s father. She made herself smile. Learning not to react to what she heard had been one of the hardest parts of field training. Brendan’s nearly perfect control over his own expressions was decidedly unfair.

“That’s good,” she said. “I’d better get back to the lab. It was nice to meet you!”

“You too,” General Carter said - or was it the Goa’uld inside him? - and walked on.

Freya headed straight for General Hammond’s office. He didn’t know who she really was, that she worked for the NSA, but he did know about her gift, because now that she’d completed her two years of blind-mind training she was cleared to tell one person at each job about her gift, and she’d picked her highest-ranking officer out of an abundance of caution, after Harper had vetted him thoroughly.

“Dr. Ramanujan, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Hammond’s desk was piled high with paperwork.

Freya closed the door. “Sir, there’s a Goa’uld on the base.”

Hammond raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“I just talked to him. I didn’t mean to read his thoughts, he startled me - but he had two distinct sets of thoughts. They were in different voices, but they were both definitely coming from him. And the second one called the first one ‘host’. What do we do?”

“Are you sure?” Hammond asked, reaching for the phone on his desk.

Freya nodded fervently. “I’ve never met a Goa’uld before, sir, but I know what I heard. Two distinct voices from inside one person.”

“Who was it?” 

“He said his name was Jacob Carter. He said he was Sam’s dad.” Freya’s chest tightened. Sam would be devastated if her father was taken, if they couldn’t save him.

Hammond smiled. “Excellent.” 

Freya immediately scanned his thoughts.

_Jacob is a Tok’ra,_ Hammond thought, meeting her gaze squarely. _Instead of forced taking of a host, it’s a symbiotic relationship. They’re our allies against the Goa’uld._

Freya blinked. “Was this a test?”

“I wanted to see if you could identify Goa’uld, read their thoughts,” Hammond said.

“You could have just asked me to.”

“I could have. I didn’t want you to look for something that wasn’t there, to skew the test in any way.”

“Did he know I was being tested?”

“Of course not. No one on this base knows about your gift but me,” Hammond said, “as we agreed. You continue to prove yourself an asset to this program, and your gift has never endangered it.”

Freya felt relief settle through her. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t meant to doubt your integrity. I just -”

“I know. I apologize for the deception. I may call on your skill in the future, Doctor.”

Freya nodded. “Of course. I - do you want me to keep an eye out for people? In general?”

“No, don’t burden yourself like that.” Hammond smiled at her. “When did you run into Jacob?” 

“Just now.”

“Thank you for reporting the concern to me so promptly.”

“All right. I’d better go.” Freya ducked out of his office and headed back to the lab. She couldn’t help but occasionally prod the minds around her, especially of people she didn’t know well. She wasn’t looking forward to the day when Hammond summoned her to meet a real Goa’uld.


End file.
